Q: Can't access old files on time capsule

Try doing it manually.. open the sparsebundle in finder and go to a date before you migrated the data to the new computer.

Use Pondini's instructions in Q15 and 16 here. http://pondini.org/TM/FAQ.html

What you did was wrong.. just to be clear.. once you migrated the data to the new laptop you should have archived the old TM backup and started a new lot.

TM does not work the way you might think.. with a new OS like Mavericks it is less predictable than ever. It can at any time delete your older backups for files that are no longer on your computer.

It is essential when using backups to understand how to preserve the files you want. Sorry as I realise this might be too late.. !!

You are not following what I explained.

Open the Sparsebundle in finder. Forget about TM for the moment.

So to illustrate. My TCgen4 is mounted.. I locate the name of the sparsebundle in data. Double click it.

Under devices the Time Machine Backups will mount.

Click on that and you will find the backups folder. Backups.backupdb

Then double click that. You will see the name of your computer again.

Then double click that. You will see the actual backups .. now the fun begins.

Click the date nearest to your migrate.. obviously prior to it. Open the folders and see if your library is there.

Attempt to recover it.

Any date you choose will not necessarily contain what you want.. so you might need to try over a period of days.

So I did it exactly as I am explaining for you.. went back to beginning of the year and located the library.

Created a new directory called recovered iphoto under the desktop.. and did a simple copy and paste to it.

Then you change libraries in iphoto and you will be able to see all your photos.

You will see from the location which library you are looking at.

To change back go to the switch libraries and relaunch.

I am sure this is only one method.. but by locating the file yourself you will be able to see if the file exists or not..

I do always commend the method that pondini has worked out.

http://pondini.org/TM/FAQ.html

Q15 and then read the particulars for iphoto.

http://pondini.org/TM/15p1.html

But my instructions will get you around the problem of the TM not being able to see earlier dates.

Please do read Pondini's info about how TM works..

Although you may not follow it all the home page on the TM .. how it does its magic is required reading.

http://pondini.org/TM/Home.html

When the system goes through a major change.. And Mavericks is the worst culprit then it can really do some damage to your old backups.

But you should also plug into the TC by ethernet.. and wait a while.. Mavericks version of TM can take ages to populate the TM display for dates earlier than Mavericks install (they don't register at all at first).

Also note Pondini's comments about using Disk Images.. or clones.. as this is far more secure method to backup.. and know that your stuff is not going to be suddenly deleted by TM.

hi,

I have a situation similar, however, my case is that I have changed Time Capsules.

New one is at home being used as my regular back up.

The old one in my office and am not using it as a backup however, I want to access the old files and use it to view old files and probably save new ones.

Found the files with old dates but when i try to access them it  shows that I don´t have permission to access  them... (see picture).

How can i resolve this?

Use the same computer with the same user login and the same OS as was used to make the backup. I have simply never had issues as long as the backup was one that I owned.

If you are trying to get access to a protected TM backup, ie you put a password on it then it won't work.

Permissions inside the TM can be tricky.. I have usually got around it by doing a full recovery to a USB drive.. And then you can fix permissions in standard way.

Hello,

I am in same situation but scenario is little different on my end.  I took complete back up of my Macbook, finished format. After that my Macbook has connection issue with current time capsule so i just performed soft reset on it. Changed username and password for wireless and hard drive. After that i was able to connect to time machine. I  see previous back up but its all grayed out and i really cant access it. Time machine shows latest back up first back up all info. I am hoping my data is still there and i can recover that. Please help me with this issue. Does name  and password chages anything?

Thanks in advance

Paresh.

I answered in your opened thread.. and better to stick to the discussion there.

However Yosemite is problematic in new and bold ways that even Mavericks never sank to.

hi,

So i have a problem, i had never back up my computer on time machine, i have a time capsule (where i just back up my iphoto library and itunes). The thing is my computer got stolen, now with a new computer i try to access the iphoto library on the time capsule and it is not there. Can any one help? I really need those pictures!!!

How did you copy the files to the TC?

If you just copy and pasted them.. they are there.. the problem is Yosemite..

Was the old computer also yosemite??

Yosemite has huge issues with permissions.. if you have any applecare ring apple.. I can give you a long work around but Apple wrote this wonderful OS .. perhaps they can figure out how to fix it.

my old computer was maverick and the new one is Yosemite.. I will try to downgrade and access the files.

It is sometimes possible to copy files that you have not got the correct permissions for by using terminal commands..

Apple have included rsync as well as standard copy commands. I personally have used rsync and it has worked very well..

I always need to look up the commands.. as my brain is getting to old to hold that kind of info.

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/698764/use-rsync-to-copy-only-hidden-files

At least turn on hidden files in Finder and see if that helps.

BUT that doesn't' help for permissions.

The TC is the wrong device to use to store your files.. Just as a btw.. please do not use the TC like it is a NAS.. it is NOT a NAS.. it is a target for Time Machine backups.. If you had used it for TM backups you could have migrated your files without all this hassle..

Since you have a new computer ring apple support as they might have a known way around this problem..

Sometimes they don't like to put in print these workarounds due to not ever wanting to own up to how poor Yosemite finder really is.

http://osxdaily.com/2015/04/10/fix-finder-problems-mac-os-x/

Just a big tip for you to prevent Time Machine backups lost in time. It´s very handy to have a backup of the backup on a USB hard drive. i have done that regularly before and thanks to that I could go back to the time before my current Macbook Pro. I thought it was all gone, all the old backups. Also it so much faster searching trough the back ups on an USB, Time machine is just so slow when you go back in time.

Hi,

I have sort of the same problem here. Last september, my macbook air running yosemite was really slow so I decided to erase everything and start over. Prior to this, I backed up everything on my TC using Time machine. When I restarted everything, I didn't migrate my things since I wanted to start from the scratch and only restore the files I wanted. But now, I can't go back to this backup. Even when I open the backups.backupdb folder, I can only go back to a september date, (but nothing prior to the sept 18th even if I backuped up all summer long), where there are no signs of my old iphoto librairies.

Is it possible to recover my photos? I tried to use stellarinfo phoenix recover data but I don't know how to directly mount my TC so the software can't find it. I really care about my librairies since they are mainly my sons childhood...

Thank you very much